Cable manager for network rack

ABSTRACT

A cable manager provides horizontal cable management of adjacent patch panels or network equipment on network distribution racks. The cable manager includes a central section and a front cable routing section and is mountable on a network rack, such as an EIA rack. The central section has a longitudinal width sized to fit within the network rack, a front side, a rear side, and rack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of the central section. The front cable routing section extends from the front side of the central section and includes a plurality of spaced fingers having an arcuate surface that provides bend radius control. A slit provides flexibility to the fingers. Ears extend laterally from the fingers. The cable manager can also include a rear cable routing section that includes a second plurality of spaced fingers. One or more passthrough openings can be provided in the central section to allow routing of cabling from the front section to the rear section. Either or both of the front and rear sections can include a removable cover. The cover may be hingedly connected.

[0001] Applicant claims, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), the benefit ofpriorty of the filing date of Mar. 28, 2000, of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/192,989, filed on the aforementioned date, theentire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of Invention

[0003] The present invention relates generally to cable managementdevices for patch panel or network equipment racks, and moreparticularly to a cable manager for use with adjacent patch panels ornetwork equipment on distribution racks or within cabinets, with animproved finger and cover design.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] Cabling, such as UTP, ScTP, coax and fiber optic cabling, isbeing increasingly used in the telecommunications industry to providedata, voice, video, or audio information. Patch panel or networkequipment enclosure and rack systems are well-known in the industry andprovided to manage and organize such cables to or from equipment orcrossconnect systems. These systems usually include a standard EIA 19″,23″ or other distribution frame rack on which one or more patch panels,network equipment, fiber optic enclosures and the like are mounted.Enclosures within the rack serve various functions, including operationas slack trays, splice trays, cable organizers and patch panels. Theseracks also serve as inter-connect or cross-connect enclosures wheninterfacing with equipment, or may serve as a telecommunications closet,allowing the cables to be terminated, spliced, patched or stored atplaces along their length.

[0006] The rack usually is formed of a frame having mounting apertureslocated along vertical legs or walls of the rack. Patching equipment,such as a patch panel, is mounted on the rack so as to define generallya patching side where patch cords coming from an active device oranother patch panel can be cross-connected and interconnected, and adistribution side where cables from network equipment or a work stationarea are terminated. Generally some form of cable management is alsoprovided on both sides of the rack to support and route the cables.While preventing detrimental bending is always important even for coppercabling, with the increasing use of fiber optic connectors as applied toconnector rack systems, proper cable management and bend radius controlhas become increasingly important. Many known systems are unable toprovide complete bend radius control, are inefficient in use, difficultto manufacture, or have other drawbacks and thus, improvement in thecable management of network rack systems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide animproved cable management device.

[0008] It is a further object of the present invention to provide acable manager for a network rack with an improved finger design thatprovides more effective bend radius control.

[0009] It is another object of the present invention to provide a singlecable manager device that provides improved cable management to eachside of a network rack.

[0010] It is still further an object of the present invention to providean improved readily installable molded cable manager with a hinged coverfor a network rack system.

[0011] Various ones of the above and other features and objects of theinvention are provided by a cable manager mountable to a network rack.The cable manager includes a central section and a front cable routingsection. The central section has a longitudinal width sized to fitwithin the network rack, a front side, a rear side, and rack mountingholes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of the central section. Thefront cable routing section extends from the front side of the centralsection and includes a plurality of spaced fingers extendingtransversely from the front side of the central section. Each of theplurality of spaced fingers has an arcuate surface that provides bendradius control. A slit is medially disposed along the arcuate surfaceand extends from a distal end of the finger towards a proximal end ofthe finger. At least one ear laterally extends from the distal end in areceiving space between adjacent fingers.

[0012] Various ones of the above and other features and objects of theinvention are also provided by a cable manager mountable to a networkrack, comprising a central section, a front cable routing section and arear cable routing section. The central section has a longitudinal widthsized to fit within the network rack, a front side, a rear side, andrack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of thecentral section. The front cable routing section extends from the frontside of the central section and includes a first plurality of spacedfingers extending transversely from the front side of the centralsection and retaining flanges extending from distal ends of multipleones of the first plurality of spaced fingers. The rear cable routingsection extends from the rear side of the central section, the rearcable routing section including a second plurality of spaced fingersextending transversely from the rear side of the central section andretaining flanges extending from distal ends of multiple ones of thesecond plurality of spaced fingers.

[0013] Various ones of the above and other features and objects of theinvention are also provided by a network rack containing the above cablemanager.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The foregoing and further objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention will become apparent from the following description ofpreferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings,wherein:

[0015]FIG. 1 shows a top front perspective view of a cable manager ofthe present invention;

[0016]FIG. 2 is a top rear perspective view of the cable manager of FIG.1, with the rear cover removed;

[0017]FIG. 3 is a top front perspective view of the cable manager ofFIG. 1, shown with closed covers;

[0018]FIG. 4 is a top front perspective view of the cable manager ofFIG. 1 with a front cover in a top open position;

[0019]FIG. 5 is a top front perspective view of a cable manager of FIG.1 with the cover in a bottom open position;

[0020]FIG. 6 is a top rear perspective view of the cable manager of FIG.1, shown with closed covers;

[0021]FIG. 7 is a top front perspective view of a network rack having apair of the cable managers mounted on the rack;

[0022]FIG. 8 is a top rear perspective view of a network rack having apair of the cable managers mounted on the rack;

[0023]FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view of a hinged cover; and

[0024]FIG. 10 is a partial view of the hinged cover of FIG. 9 in an openposition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0025] A cable manager 10 according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention is generally shown in FIGS. 1-10 and is useful inproviding horizontal cable management in a network rack.

[0026] Cable manager 10 is preferably formed by an injection moldingprocess in which two halves, preferably identical halves, are molded andthen snap fit together to form a single cable manager device that ismountable on and provides cable management to both a patching side and adistribution side of a network rack. A suitable rack is a conventional19″ or 23″ EIA network rack that has spaced vertical rails or legs thatallow mounting of various numbers of rack elements thereon. However, theinvention is equally applicable to other known or subsequently developedracks. Moreover, a network rack need not be an open frame structure asin the above EIA racks, but may include mounting cabinets or enclosureshaving mounting features and walls defining openings that can receiveand fix rack elements, such as cable manager 10, patch panels, and thelike.

[0027] As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, cable manager 10 generallyincludes a front cable routing section 12, a rear cable routing section14 and a central section 16, which preferably has passthroughcapabilities. The front and rear cable routing sections 12, 14 generallyinclude a pair of back-to-back channels each formed by a base section18, 20 and a plurality of upstanding fingers 30, 40 disposedlongitudinally along at least one and preferably two opposing sides(front and rear) of the respective base sections.

[0028] Central section 16 has a suitable height, a longitudinal widthsized to fit within a desired network rack, and a depth whichapproximates the depth dimension of rack legs 60 (FIGS. 3 and 7) or amounting cabinet (not shown) to which the cable manager 10 is mounted.In the case of a 19″ network rack, the width would be approximately 19″when mounted horizontally on the rack and the height would be a multipleof 1.75″, which is a standard single device height. However, these areexemplary and may change depending on the size and type of rack used.Each longitudinal end of the central section 16 contains a plurality ofmounting holes 50 that mount the cable manager to a frame structure,such as legs 60 of a standard rack system or to walls of a mountingcabinet (unshown). The legs 60 (or other equivalent mounting framestructure) have various apertures that allow mounting of the cablemanager to the rack by a suitable mounting element, such as a bolt, thatextends through the mounting holes and rack apertures aligned therewith.The base sections 18, 20 are integrally connected by a central wall anda plurality of strengthening walls 22 to comprise the central section16.

[0029] The central section 16 of the cable manager is preferably apassthrough section that includes one or more passthrough openings 56.The passthrough openings 56 allow installers the ability to route cablesfrom one side of the rack to the other (i.e., from the patching side tothe distribution side and the converse). The passthrough openings 56preferably are formed with curved sidewalls that provide bend radiuscontrol to the cables routed through the passthrough openings.

[0030] The front cable routing side of the cable manager (front section12) preferably forms the patching side where active equipment isinterconnected or patch cords on a patch panel are cross-connected. Asshown in FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 7, patching side fingers 30 extend from basesection 18 in the form of two parallel and spaced rows that define acable channel. Fingers are separated from adjacent fingers 30 to providea space 32 for routing cables from within the cable channel to theequipment either above or below on the rack. The fingers 30 preferablyextend outwardly beyond the frame legs 60 as shown. Each of theplurality of patching side fingers 30 are formed having an inwardlydirected arcuate surface at least on a distal portion of the finger. Thearcuate surfaces of fingers 30 have a predefined minimum radius thatprovides a bend radius control surface for wires and cables. The minimumbend radius can vary depending on the types of wires and cables used. Anexemplary radius may be “1” or greater for many applications. However,the minimum bend radius should be selected to correspond to desiredcriteria of cable(s) to be managed by the cable manager.

[0031] Fingers 30 are also provided with a pair of ears 34 formed nearthe distal end with each ear extending towards an opposing ear formed onan adjacent finger 30. The ears 34 preferably have a generallytriangular configuration that provides angled surfaces which assist inthe insertion and removal of cables from in between the fingers. As theformation of the fingers with an arcuate cross-section has been found toresult in a relatively stiff structure, each finger 30 on the patchingside also includes a slit 36 medially disposed along the arcuate surfaceof the finger. Slit 36 is formed to extend from the distal end towardsthe base approximately one-half the length of finger 30. Slit 36provides additional flexibility to fingers 30 during routing of cables.

[0032] As best seen in FIGS. 3-5, the patching side of cable manager 10includes a hingedly connected front cover 52, which can be rotated 180°up or down. That is, cover 52 can be opened from either side. Cover 52may also be completely removable. Cover 52 is hingedly connected tocable manager 10 by a plurality of spaced apart pairs of hinge brackets54 having apertures. The hinge brackets 54 are dimensioned so as toreleasably engage with the tops of a pair of opposing ears 34 formed onadjacent patching fingers 30. A release tab 62 is formed in betweenhinge brackets 54 to allow for easier releasing of cover 52 by extendingbeyond the remaining periphery of cover 52.

[0033] A more detailed description of hinged cover 52 will be describedwith respect to FIGS. 9-10. Hinge brackets 54 include a semi-sphericalaperture 55 that mates with a corresponding ear 34 to allow rotationthereabout and a locking tab 53 that engages with an edge of ear 34 tolock the cover in an open position when cover 52 is opened about 180°.Cover 52 can be closed by pulling forward on the cover to releaselocking tab 53 and allow rotation of cover 52 back to a closed position.

[0034]FIG. 7 shows a pair of cable manager devices 10 mounted on anetwork rack having a pair of rack legs 60, adjacent to a plurality ofpatch panels 64. As shown, the cable managers 10 may be provided eitherabove and/or below a patch panel 64. The lower cable manager device 10is shown with the cover 52 rotated open in the down position. As can beseen, cables 70, which terminate connectors connected to patch panels64, are routed through the spaces 32 and around fingers 30 into thecable routing section whereby they exit at either end. With theinventive cable manager 10, good horizontal cable management can beachieved.

[0035] The rear side of the cable manager (rear section 14) preferablyforms the distribution side where cables from network equipment or awork station area can be terminated. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 6,distribution side fingers 40 are formed having arcuate portions 42 atleast on a distal portion and a flat portion 44 at a proximal portion.As discussed above with reference to the front patching side, when thefingers are formed with an arcuate configuration, they are relativelystiff. On the distribution side, the installer often has need forgreater access to the adjacent patch panels for their hands and othertools. Thus, by forming fingers 40 with the initial flat platformsection 44, the fingers 40 can be made more flexible. The distal ends offingers 40 on the distribution side include lips 48 for engagement witha duct cover 58. A suitable duct cover may snap fit on upstanding member49 (see FIGS. 6 and 8). Alternatively, a hinged cover as used on thefront section may be provided.

[0036] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 8, the distribution side also includes astepped down portion 46 that provides additional room to accommodate atool and/or a hand of an installer. That is, the base section 20 on thedistribution side is narrower than the base section 18 on the patchingside so that fingers 40 on the distribution side are spaced a littlefather from the rear side of adjacent patch panels to provide additionalclearance for the installer.

[0037] Selected fingers from both sets of fingers 30, 40 also includerespective retaining flanges 38, 39 formed on the distal ends to helpretain routed cables 70 when a cover is not present.

[0038] While the particular embodiment of the present invention has beenshown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatchanges and modifications may be made without departing from theinvention in its broader aspects. The matter set forth in the foregoingdescription and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustrationonly and not as a limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cable manager mountable to a network rack,comprising: a central section having a longitudinal width sized to fitwithin the network rack, a predefined height, a front side, a rear side,and rack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinal ends of thecentral section; and a front cable routing section extending from thefront side of the central section, the front cable routing sectionincluding a plurality of spaced fingers extending transversely from thefront side of the central section, wherein each of the plurality ofspaced fingers has an arcuate surface that provides bend radius controlto cables routed thereover, and a slit is medially disposed along thearcuate surface and extends from a distal end of the finger towards aproximal end of the finger.
 2. The cable manager of claim 1 , wherein atleast one ear laterally extends from near the distal end into areceiving space between adjacent fingers, the at least one ear assistingin insertion and removal of cables in the receiving space.
 3. The cablemanager of claim 1 , further comprising retaining flanges extending fromthe distal end of multiple ones of the plurality of spaced fingers. 4.The cable manager of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of spaced fingersare arranged in multiple spaced rows.
 5. The cable manager of claim 4 ,further comprising a front cover attachable to at least one finger on atleast two of the multiple spaced rows.
 6. The cable manager of claim 5 ,wherein at least one ear laterally extends from near the distal end intoa receiving space between adjacent fingers and the front cover is ahinged cover that includes hinge brackets hingedly mounted betweenadjacent ones of the ears that allow positioning of the hinged coverbetween open and closed positions.
 7. The cable manager of claim 6 ,wherein the hinged cover further comprises a locking tab lockable withone of the ears to lock the hinged cover in the open position.
 8. Thecable manager of claim 5 , wherein the front cover includes a releasetab.
 9. The cable manager of claim 1 , further comprising a rear cablerouting section extending from the rear side of the central section, therear cable routing section including a second plurality of spacedfingers extending transversely from the rear side of the centralsection.
 10. The cable manager of claim 9 , wherein retaining flangesextend from distal ends of multiple ones of the second plurality ofspaced fingers.
 11. The cable manager of claim 9 , wherein the centralsection further includes at least one passthrough opening that providesaccess between the front cable routing section and the rear cablerouting section.
 12. The cable manager of claim 9 , wherein the secondplurality of spaced fingers are arranged in two spaced rows.
 13. Thecable manager of claim 12 , further comprising a rear cover attachableto at least one finger on each of the two spaced rows of the secondplurality of spaced fingers.
 14. The cable manager of claim 12 , whereinthe rear side of the central section includes a step down portion suchthat the two spaced rows have a height that is less than thepredetermined height of the central section.
 15. The cable manager ofclaim 9 , wherein the second plurality of spaced fingers include a flatportion near proximal ends thereof.
 16. The cable manager of claim 9 ,wherein the second plurality of spaced fingers include an arcuatesurface at distal ends thereof.
 17. A cable manager mountable to anetwork rack, comprising: a central section having a longitudinal widthsized to fit within the network rack, a predetermined height, a frontside, a rear side, and rack mounting holes provided on oppositelongitudinal ends of the central section; a front cable routing sectionextending from the front side of the central section, the front cablerouting section including a first plurality of spaced fingers extendingtransversely from the front side of the central section; a rear cablerouting section extending from the rear side of the central section, therear cable routing section including a second plurality of spacedfingers extending transversely from the rear side of the centralsection; and a hinged cover rotatably attachable to least one of thefirst plurality of fingers and the second plurality of fingers.
 18. Thecable manager of claim 17 , wherein the central section includes atleast one passthrough opening that provides access between the frontcable routing section and the rear cable routing section.
 19. The cablemanager of claim 18 , wherein the at least one passthrough opening hascurved sidewalls that provide bend radius control.
 20. The cable managerof claim 17 , wherein the first plurality of spaced fingers are formedwith arcuate surfaces that provide bend radius control.
 21. The cablemanager of claim 20 , wherein the distal end of the first plurality ofspaced fingers include a slit medially disposed along the arcuatesurface and extending toward a proximal end of the fingers.
 22. Thecable manager of claim 20 , wherein the distal end of the firstplurality of spaced fingers include laterally extending ears.
 23. Thecable manager of claim 20 , wherein the first plurality of spacedfingers are arranged in multiple spaced rows.
 24. The cable manager ofclaim 23 , wherein the hinged cover is attachable to at least one fingeron at least two of the multiple spaced rows.
 25. The cable manager ofclaim 24 , wherein the cover includes hinge brackets.
 26. The cablemanager of claim 25 , wherein the distal end of the first plurality ofspaced fingers include laterally extending ears and the hinge bracketsare hingedly mounted between adjacent ones of the ears.
 27. The cablemanager of claim 26 , wherein the cover further includes a locking tablockable with one of the ears to lock the cover in an open position. 28.The cable manager of claim 26 , wherein the cover includes a releasetab.
 29. The cable manager of claim 26 , wherein the cover is hingedlyopenable in two opposite directions.
 30. The cable manager of claim 17 ,wherein the second plurality of spaced fingers are arranged in twospaced rows.
 31. The cable manager of claim 30 , wherein the rear sideof the central section includes a step down portion such that the twospaced rows have a height that is less than the predetermined height ofthe central section.
 32. The cable manager of claim 30 , furthercomprising a second cover attachable to the second plurality of spacedfingers.
 33. A network rack, comprising: a rack frame having mountinglegs; at least one patch panel mounted to the mounting legs of the rackframe; and a cable manager mounted to the mounting legs to be adjacentthe at least one patch panel, the cable manager comprising: a centralsection having a longitudinal width sized to ft within the rack frame, afront side, a rear side, and rack mounting holes provided on oppositelongitudinal ends of the central section; a front cable routing sectionextending from the front side of the central section, the front cablerouting section including a first plurality of spaced fingers extendingtransversely from the front side of the central section and retainingflanges extending from distal ends of multiple ones of the firstplurality of spaced fingers; a rear cable routing section extending fromthe rear side of the central section, the rear cable routing sectionincluding a second plurality of spaced fingers extending transverselyfrom the rear side of the central section and retaining flangesextending from distal ends of multiple ones of the second plurality ofspaced fingers; and a hinged cover rotatably attachable to at least oneof the first plurality of fingers and the second plurality of fingers.34. The network rack of claim 33 , wherein the at least one patch panelhas a patching side and a distribution side, the front cable routingsection is provided on the patching side and the rear cable routingsection is provided on the distribution side.
 35. The network rack ofclaim 34 , wherein the rear side of the central section includes a stepdown portion such that the two spaced rows have a height that is lessthan the predetermined height of the central section.
 36. The networkrack of claim 33 , wherein the first plurality of fingers have anarcuate surface that provides bend radius control.
 37. The network rackof claim 33 , wherein the central section includes at least onepassthrough opening that provides access between the front cable routingsection and the rear cable routing section.
 38. A network rack,comprising: a rack frame having mounting legs; at least one patch panelmounted to the mounting legs of the rack frame; and a cable managermounted to the mounting legs and being adjacent the at least one patchpanel, the cable manager comprising: a central section having alongitudinal width sized to fit within the network rack, a front side, arear side, and rack mounting holes provided on opposite longitudinalends of the central section; and a front cable routing section extendingfrom the front side of the central section, the front cable routingsection including a plurality of spaced fingers extending transverselyfrom the front side of the central section, wherein each of theplurality of spaced fingers has an arcuate surface that provides bendradius control, and a slit is medially disposed along the arcuatesurface and extends from a distal end of the finger towards a proximalend of the finger.
 39. The network rack of claim 38 , wherein the atleast one patch panel has a patching side and a distribution side, andthe front cable routing section is provided on the patching side. 40.The network rack of claim 39 , wherein the rear side of the centralsection includes a step down portion such that the two spaced rows havea height that is less than the predetermined height of the centralsection.
 41. The network rack of claim 38 , wherein the plurality ofspaced fingers are provided in two spaced rows and a cover is hingedlyattachable to at least one finger in each of the two spaced rows.